1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image read-out and recording apparatus for reading out an image recorded on an image original and recording the read-out image on a photosensitive material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various light beam scanning read-out apparatuses have heretofore been proposed for scanning an image original carrying an image recorded thereon with a light beam, and photoelectrically detecting light reflected by the image original, light passing through the image original, or light emitted by the image original, thereby to read out the image recorded on the image original. There have also heretofore been proposed various light beam scanning recording apparatuses wherein a photosensitive material is scanned with a light beam modulated with image signals, and an image which the image signals represent is recorded on the photosensitive material.
It is often desired that the image read out from the image original be reproduced and recorded on a photosensitive material immediately after image read-out. For example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,264 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 56(1981)-11395, the applicant proposed a radiation image recording and reproducing system wherein a sheet provided with a layer of the stimulable phosphor (hereinafter referred to as a stimulable phosphor sheet) is first exposed to a radiation passing through an object such as the human body to have a radiation image of the object stored thereon, and is then exposed to stimulating rays such as a laser beam which cause the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to the stored radiation energy. The light emitted by the stimulable phosphor sheet upon stimulation thereof is photoelectrically detected and converted to electric image signals, and the radiation image of the object is reproduced as a visible image by use of the image signals on a recording medium such as a photographic film, a display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), or the like. In the proposed radiation image recording and reproducing system, in order to urgently make a diagnosis of the object, it is desired to obtain a hard copy of the reproduced image immediately after the radiation image recording is carried out. The same thing is desired also in the case of a copying machine proposed in recent years wherein, instead of optically exposing an electrophotographic photosensitive material, an image original is photoelectrically read out to obtain image signals, and the image on the image original is reproduced and recorded by use of the image signals.
The aforesaid requirement can be satisfied by using the light beam scanning read-out apparatus and the light beam scanning recording apparatus. However, in this case, since both the light beam scanning read-out apparatus and the light beam scanning recording apparatus must be provided, system cost and running cost become high and a large space is necessary for installation of the system.
In order to eliminate the aforesaid problems, it has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58(1983)-184677, to constitute an apparatus so that a light source for emitting a light beam is used commonly for image read-out and image recording, modulation of the light beam is ceased in the course of image read-out, and receiving of the light beam is intercepted in the course of image recording. However, with the proposed apparatus, image recording cannot be carried out until image read-out from a single image original is completed, and therefore the time required from image read-out to image reproduction or recording becomes very long.